Doc’s Monash honour
Dr Jesse Schnall, who received the Roth/Segal John Monash Harvard Scholarship, feels 'honoured, grateful and determined!'
A former Mount Scopus student is among 18 recipients of this year’s General Sir John Monash Foundation scholarships, awarded to outstanding Australian graduates to help them undertake postgraduate studies overseas at the world’s best universities.
Of 245 applicants, Dr Jesse Schnall, whose interests include bioethics, health policy and the overlap of mental health and public health, was one of the successful applicants receiving a grant of $70,000 each year for up to three years of study.
The 27-year-old, who has interned at the World Health Organisation, and has authored over 20 articles, is planning to undertake a Master of Public Health at Harvard University, with a specific focus on mental health policy reform.
The 2022 scholars were honoured last week at a ceremony at Government House in Canberra.
Dr Schnall, who received the Roth/Segal John Monash Harvard Scholarship, told The AJN his reaction to receiving the award was, “Honoured, grateful and determined!”
“To have the foundation not only validate the importance of my efforts and ideas within public and mental health, but also offer the opportunity and responsibility to continue pursuing those initiatives for the benefit of Australians, was and remains an enormous privilege,” he said. “I hope I’ll be able to do it justice.”
Stating that he hopes his Harvard studies will equip him “with a range of skills and experience that can be directly applied to key public health challenges both domestically and overseas,” he added, “The award also brings the invaluable advice and guidance of the foundation and its amazing community of scholars, who have already been incredibly welcoming and inspiring.”
Dr Schnall, who says he is particularly interested in “the impact of drug scheduling policy on the development of potential novel therapies for several mental illnesses, said, “Following my time abroad, it would be a real privilege to eventually work more closely within either state or federal departments of health, with the aim of offering the most direct benefit to the public health of Australians.”